John 1:29 — Harry Ironside

John the Baptist Proclaims the Lamb of God

In the first chapter of John's Gospel, in the twenty-ninth verse, you'll find these words, The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.

It's often seen to me that there's been a great deal of misunderstanding as to the ministry of John the Baptist, the great forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ. You'll remember how appreciatively Jesus spoke of him.

He said, Of all those born of women, there's never been a greater than John the Baptist. What was there about this man that was so great? Well, of course, the outstanding thing was this, that he proclaimed the coming of Messiah Christ in his wonderful, his namesake.

Repentance and the Meaning of John's Baptism

Some people have an idea that John the Baptist was baptized somewhere or another, by which we're saying. We read in the scripture, Then cometh John's mission of sins. And people get an idea that John was preaching baptism for the remission of sins.

That wasn't what he was preaching, the remission of sins. That is, John's baptism was the expression of repentance. John was telling people that all were sinners and all deserved to die. He said, The ax is laid to the root of the tree.

Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. And so he called for the people to come down to the waters of Jordan and there be baptized, confessing their sins. Now, that's repentance.

They came confessing their sins. They came justifying God, acknowledging that what he said about them was true, and their baptism was simply the outward expression of their penitence. But now that was a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

The Lamb of God Bears Our Sin

The sins weren't remitted through the baptism, but in what way were the sins remitted? Why, he tells us here in this 29th verse of John 1, Behold the Lamb of God. Baptism doesn't take away sin, but the Lamb of God does.

And how does the Lamb of God take away sin? Why, he came into the world the only begotten son of the Father, and himself absolutely sinless, went to Calvary's cross, and there upon the cross he bore our sins.

The word of God says he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. And now because our sins were laid upon him, because he paid the penalty due to those sins, he takes away the sin of the world.

Salvation Comes Through Faith, Not Works

That is, if we turn to him, if we trust him, if we believe in him, we have the right to say, Thank God my sins. Gone in what way? Because I was baptized? No, that wouldn't put away my sins. Because I joined some church?

No, that wouldn't put away my sins. Because I turned over a new leaf? No, that wouldn't put away my sins. Because I tried to be charitable and kind to the poor and the needy? No, it's a very good thing to do all that, but that wouldn't put away my sins.

What then? Because I put my trust in the Savior, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. The Savior, all that I was guilty of, that is, of course he died long before I came into the world, but he knew all I'd ever be guilty of.

Christ's Substitutionary Atonement

And he took all my sins and bore them there in his own body in a tree, and endured the judgment that those sins deserve, so that now God can be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. And this is the gospel that John the Baptist preached.

Some people think that John didn't know the gospel, but here it is. You couldn't get a clearer gospel than this. Behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. That's the very pith and marrow of the gospel.

The Lord Jesus Christ is God's Lamb, God's sacrificial Lamb, who gave himself for us. You remember when Abraham and Isaac were going up Mount Moriah, and Isaac turned to his father and said, Father, here's the wood and here's the fire, but where's the Lamb for a burnt offering?

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a Lamb for a burnt offering. Well, John the Baptist says this is the Lamb, this is the one that God has, this is the one who can offer himself without spotting to God on our behalf, and this is the one whom he calls upon us to receive.

Receiving Christ as the Children of God

We read in the same first chapter of John's gospel, in verse 11, He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name.